Curriculum Integration in Action: Ancient Egypt

Curriculum Integration "Maybe we can embalm the frog after we dissect it," said teacher candidate Matthew MacLeod as we sat to plan out his first teaching block with my grade 8 class. Over the next twenty minutes we tied together every subject area into a learning unit - it was one of those synergistic (when [...]

Posted by milesmac on November 18th, 2012 | No Comments Posted in Projects

Why Learn History when you can DO History

Two words: SOCIAL ARTIFACTS Why do we teach world history? So students can answer a daily double on the fertile crescent? So students will know when what happened to whom? Most curricula have "Cluster 0" outcomes; over-arching skill development focusing on process in the context of whatever content each unit happens to present. These are skills like, [...]

Posted by milesmac on October 1st, 2012 | 2 Comments Posted in Pedagogy, Projects

Minecraft 07 Some Finished Grade 8 Ancient Greece Projects

Our grade 8 classes have wrapped up their first minecraft project recreating a scale version of an Ancient Greek structure. Accompanying the project were some calculations, and a video tour of their structure while describing the historical importance and architectural details. Part of our challenge was getting the students to balance research and writing time with [...]

Posted by milesmac on March 1st, 2012 | 15 Comments Posted in Pedagogy

Minecraft 05: Students Start Virtual Project Based Learning

"Reconstruct an ancient Greek structure to scale. Later, you will take a visiting student on a virtual guided tour explaining everything you know about the building and its' purpose in ancient times. Your visitor should be amazed at how smart you are." That is the educational Minecraft project, in a nutshell. There aren't a lot of criteria. I [...]

Posted by milesmac on January 9th, 2012 | 1 Comment Posted in Gamification, Projects

Project Based Learning: Early Humans

Having tired of the evolution charts and polysyllabic mouthfuls of species, I suggested to my grade 8 students that we try something different. I proposed we do a SimSurvival project within which we would learn about human evolution and the rise of civilizations in an open simulation. The scenario is simple: for whatever reason, some [...]

Posted by milesmac on December 14th, 2011 | 4 Comments Posted in Pedagogy, Projects